World Statistics Congress

Delegates enjoyed the Dublin scene and noted that it was an 'amazing city' and the Irish pubs were 'the best in the world'.

Delegates: 2,247
Client: Central Statistics Office Ireland on behalf of the International Statistical Institute (ISI)
Event: World Statistics Congress
Type: Conference
Date: August 2011
Days: 5

Brief

The International Statistical Institute asked the Central Statistics Office to host its bi-annual congress in Ireland for the first time since the institute began in 1881. MCI-Europe was appointed as the Professional Conference Organiser for the event in 2008 and the project received funding from sponsorships, fees and a subvention from the Irish Government. The search quickly began for a brand new world-class venue to host Ireland’s first World Statistics Congress. The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD) was contacted and the event planning committee took a hard-hat tour in the partly-built convention centre. The event, which generally attracts about 2,000 delegates, was previously held in Sydney (2005), Lisbon (2007) and South Africa (2009), so the Irish organising team was under pressure to deliver a world-class event in Dublin.

Solution

In December 2008, a whole three years before the event was due to take place, the ISI team signed the contract to host the 2011 Conference at The CCD. The venue was selected based on the impressive vision of Ireland’s first purpose built and state-of-the-art conference centre. Its futuristic design was also a nice fit for the statistical industry. The event required use of the entire building to house its 2,247 delegates from 125 countries. The hectic schedule of this 5-day conference included a plenary session and 260 parallel sessions with up to 22 running concurrently. There were also 1,300 speakers throughout the event each with a presentation, which was required on screen for their session. To ensure this element of the conference ran smoothly, The CCD worked with the organisers to centralize the collection of all presentations in 2 speaker-ready rooms to ensure the correct one was loaded on time and available to the speaker in the right location.

Another challenge during this event was moving the large number of delegates to the various parallel sessions taking place across the venue. To help with this task, the friendly CCD Hosts were on hand to direct the crowd, keep them moving and on schedule for their next meeting. Lunch was available onsite for purchase and teas and coffees were served on the Foyer levels in the mornings and afternoons. On the last evening, there was a reception and a gala dinner on site for 1,400 delegates. This event was the highlight of the conference and gave all of the participants and opportunity to unwind, relax and enjoy their last night in Dublin.

Results

The client received very positive feedback from ISI and attending delegates. The venue was seen as modern, iconic and easy to locate. The CCD team was also commended for being polite and incredibly helpful throughout the event and the management team was always flexible and professional in their approach. Following the event, a delegate survey was conducted and 91% of respondents felt that it was a good or excellent venue and 94% scored the exhibition as good or excellent. Delegates enjoyed the Dublin scene and noted that it was an ‘amazing city’ and the Irish pubs were ‘the best in the world.’

“This event allowed us to showcase Dublin and Ireland and I’m delighted to share that this Conference was a major success. The CCD team all provided a top class service and it has been a pleasure to do business with them. I would highly recommend The Convention Centre Dublin as a prime venue for similar events.” Paul J Crowley, Central Statistics Office Ireland